After spending most of 2009 reunited with New Kids on the Block, Joey McIntyre decided to strike while the iron was hot in resuming his solo career.

The singer, who’s released four previous solo albums, hustled to get out an EP, “Here We Go Again,” before year’s end, distributing it via digital retailers.

“Every two or three years, I just get itchy and I want to make a new record,” says McIntyre, 37, who started working on “Here We Go Again” shortly after New Kids came off the road in July. “I think being out on the road and performing so much only encouraged me more. It was quite an experience the last couple years with the New Kids, so that definitely inspired me to write some stuff.

“You kinda want to do your own thing again.”

That energy, McIntyre explains, is what made him go with a shorter-form EP rather than an entire album. “An album ... becomes a prolonged project, usually,” he says. “It could go another six months. This sort of shot out of the cannon, and out of that came these seven songs.”

Besides his own touring, McIntyre will regroup with New Kids for a May 14-17 cruise. He says the quintet also is “talking about surrounding that cruise with some cool shows, maybe” and does not rule out the possibility of another New Kids album in the future.

“Timing is everything,” McIntyre says. “Basically, what I’m saying is the door is wide open. Right now we’re doing individual stuff, but we’re in touch as well. We just want to feel good about what we do.”